Love, what is it good for?
by deathknight17
Summary: He had loved her for the longest time, but he could never tell her how he felt and suffered for it; now she's back and he's given a second chance. Gray x Lisanna, a onesided love anyway


When Lisanna had returned to Fairy Tail everyone was excited to see her again, even the new members of the guild showed a genuine happiness to see her return to the guild. The welcome back party they threw was one hell of an affair and lasted deep into the night and soon everyone was asleep except for one person. Gray had just recovered from his fight with Natsu earlier that had quickly turned into Erza throwing both of them into a wall to get them to stop. Realizing he was the only person awake at this point he was careful in making his way past the sleeping figures towards the bar so he could get himself something to drink. He nearly stepped on Cana who was sleeping behind the bar and instead stubbed his toe against the counter, but he managed to put his hand over his mouth and stop the litany of curses from coming out. He grabbed a random bottle from one of the shelves, opened it up and took a long swig from the bottle; after finishing the bottle he took one more before walking back to his spot although this time he didn't bother with trying to not hurt anyone. After making it back to his seat he popped open the bottle to take another drink, before he did though his eyes fell upon the sleeping figures of Lisanna and her two siblings. Gray remembered how bitter he was after Mirajane and Elfman had told them all her fate, he couldn't help but smile at her as he took another drink.

"Maybe now I'll work up the courage to tell her how I feel" Gray said to himself as he began drifting off to sleep

The first person Gray talked to when he first joined Fairy Tail was Lisanna; she had a bright smile when she forcibly introduced him to everyone in the guild. That was also when he met Natsu and instantly formed a rivalry with him that'll probably last until they're older than the Master. He didn't appreciate the gesture initially, but later he would quietly thank her for that act seeing as he was kind of awkward when it came to introductions. After that they really didn't talk too much other than the usual greeting she'd give him every day: an excited hello, followed by a hug, and then him having to defend himself from Mirajane's barbs about how he had a crush on Lisanna, but then his face would turn a bright red causing Mirajane to taunt him even more. He'd turn and walk towards an inevitable fight with Natsu, which they'd settle in their usuall place after some tough talk and stripping on Gray's part which always seemed to entertain Lisanna.

"Whoever wins the fight will be the person I end up marrying!" she would tell them which usually froze them in their spot

"Haha, look at them I don't think either one wants to win now" Macao laughed

"What's that supposed to mean? Marrying me is an honor" Lisanna told him

"They're boys, the only thing they care about is fighting, eating, and proving which one is superior; girls are the least of their concern right now" he explained "You two go on now she's just joking"

"Jeez I was worried there for a moment" Natsu said as they both left

"You're telling me, I was thinking of throwing the fight just to avoid that fate" Gray agreed

As time went on and they got older Gray noticed that Lisanna was becoming well…prettier, often times he found himself staring at her and forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, which was usually trying to figure out what happened to his clothes that he had taken off. It wasn't even that he only liked her just because she was growing up to be in his opinion prettier than her sister or Erza, but he enjoyed talking to her about everything even if their conversation was just about the weather. He didn't need to talk to anyone about what he was feeling, he damn well knew that he was in love with her; as to when it happened he wasn't sure but all he knew was that he was happy when she was around him. However he was never sure if she felt that way about him as she would always greet him the way she always would, he also noted that Lisanna tended to spend more time with Natsu and Happy whom she would go on jobs with. The only thing that would console him when he saw them together was seeing how Natsu didn't seem to enjoy it when Lisanna made too much physical contact with him; he was still a kid in that regard. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he never knew how to get some alone time with her: either she was hanging around Natsu who couldn't take a subtle hint to leave them alone and Happy who would automatically call Gray out on his love, or she was with her siblings and he knew that Mirajane would tease him endlessly if he tried talking to Lisanna. It was tough for him and the only thing that would give him some relief was going out on a job and beating up whatever monster or dark guild had it coming, it was a great way to get out his frustration with what he saw as a one sided love. Although every time he would see her all the frustration that he had just finished getting rid of would return along with other feelings of love which only added to his deepening sense of misery. One day it all seemed to change for him when she asked him if he wanted to come with her, Natsu, and Happy on a job. He wasn't a fan of working with Natsu since he doubted they could work effectively with each other, but he figured that during a job when anything could happen he might actually get some alone time with her and finally confess to her everything he felt. The job was actually a bit difficult and not because he and Natsu would argue with each other every step of the way, but that the dark guild that they were trying to defeat had planned their defenses well. They were holed up deep in a mountain range and the moment they were alerted to the presence of the group, they caused an avalanche that threatened to crush them all. They were all caught in the cascade and Natsu was driven off the cliff but he was caught by Happy who quickly tried to find a place to put him down so he could return for Gray and Lisanna. Gray managed to form an ice wall behind him and grabbed Lisanna's hand before she fell, but with his poor footing he wasn't able to pull her up and was being slowly dragged off the cliff.

"Gray you have to let go otherwise we'll both die!" she yelled out

"What the hell are you talking about? I'd never let you go, do you know what your sister would do to me if I came back without you?" Gray yelled back

"If you don't let go then she won't be able to beat you up because you'll be dead! Please Gray don't throw your life away for me" she answered

"For you I'd do anything" he said quietly before finding an extra burst of strength to pull her up, he pulled her right into him but luckily he managed to keep his footing and formed an ice floor so that they could both relax

"Gray, you saved my life" she said after catching her breath

"Don't mention it" Gray said standing up once the avalanche was over

"Oh don't act like some cool guy" Lisanna teased before hugging him tightly and then kissing him on the cheek making his face turn red "Ah, when'd you lose your shirt?"

"Shit, I think I threw it over the edge!" he realized

"Not so loud, we don't want to start another avalanche" Lisanna recommended

"Oh yeah, sorry" Gray said

They stood there for a few moments waiting for some sort of signal from Happy that he and Natsu had found a safe place to land. It took him a few seconds before realizing that this was the alone time with her that he was so desperately searching for. However his mind blanked at that moment, words wouldn't come together the way he wanted them to, and in the end he couldn't say a word before Happy came back to fly them back to where Natsu was. The rest of the mission went off without a hitch and the dark guild was defeated; while everyone else was happy, Gray couldn't get over his failure to tell Lisanna how he felt. He hated himself for not telling her how he felt and wondered if there would ever be another opportunity like that again. He sighed to himself and pretended that he was happy, he didn't want to draw any attention to himself after all he was sure nobody could really help him out in this situation. The next few months were more of the same for Gray who was beginning to go crazy at this stage, he half wondered if he should have just given up on her before he couldn't function as a mage anymore. But those thoughts went to rest when he heard that she was gone forever, it was a horrible day in his life just as bad as when Ul had sacrificed herself to save his life. Everyone grieved in their own way, but he kept it inside going on jobs to keep himself occupied and prevent him from thinking about what could have been which would have made him go insane with grief. However he was lying to himself whenever he told himself that he could get over her death, he would never love another girl he… couldn't love another girl nobody could make him feel how he did when Lisanna was around him. That's why when he saw her again his whole world was turned around, suddenly everything seemed like they would end up alright, and he promised himself that he would tell her how he felt about her. The next day after the building had been cleaned up she asked him to come with her on a job which surprised him and everyone else

"So soon Lisanna, don't you want to wait a few more days?" Mirajane asked

"Mira-nee I'm fine it's not like I've been in a coma the last few years, I still know how to fight if that's what you're worried about" Lisanna assured her

"Well it's not that I doubt your ability to fight, it's just that after all you've been through the past few days don't you think that you might be a little tired?"

"That's why I'm bringing Gray with me; if I'm a bit rusty I've got him to back me up"

"Natsu didn't want to come with you?" Elfman asked

"He said that he and Lucy were going to head out on a job soon and said Gray was was free so I asked him to come with me" Lisanna replied

"Well if you're sure" Mirajane said worriedly

"We'll be fine, now come on Gray the train leaves in half an hour so we need to move it if we want to catch it on time" Lisanna said grabbing Gray and running off towards the train

They made it to the train on time and the trip was going to take a few hours so they had ample amounts of time to talk to each other. She was her same old cheery self even after all she had gone through which made Gray admire her more, and just like always he was enthralled by her presence. He didn't tell her how he felt during the trip, he had no idea what to tell her and the train came to a stop much sooner than he had expected .The job was to take out some flying beasts that were terrorizing the town and the guards couldn't do anything about it so mages were needed. Gray and Lisanna got to work almost immediately after they arrived at their stop as the beasts had chosen that moment to attack the city. Fighting the beasts wasn't the hard part, it was dealing with the panicked masses who were running by them often times getting in the way of their attacks; the fact that the guards were part of the panicked masses didn't help out the duo's cause. However they were able to defeat all the beasts, after a long ovation by the grateful townspeople, and the reward money which the mayor doubled out of gratitude for saving his life they were off back to Magnolia Town on the same day.

"Well that was unexpected" Gray said

"What, the doubled reward money or the people who were getting in our way?" Lisanna asked

"Both actually although I guess saving the mayor from being carried away warrants an increased reward" Gray said

"It was his choice" Lisanna replied

"That's true, and I guess it works out for everyone in the end. The people are all safe and we get more money" he said

"Exactly" she agreed before they both went quiet for a few minutes, she looked out of the window to see the scenery as they went by while Gray watched her before finally working up some courage

"Lisanna" he said a bit louder than he had intended

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly

"Umm you can relax, I think I spoke a bit louder than what I had intended to" Gray replied slowly becoming red in the face

"Uh, okay then" Lisanna said slowly still worried that something was wrong with Gray

"Well this is going great" Gray thought

"So do you have something you want to talk about?" she asked

"Yeah, I think it's better if I just say what I've been wanting to tell you for a while now" he said getting redder

"Tell me then" she said with a smile

"Lisanna, I uh…love you" he finally managed out which surprised him since he expected himself to choke on the words rather than spit it out

"What?" she asked with a surprised voice

"I love you… I've loved you for a while but I was so scared of telling you until now obviously" Gray said growing a bit more confident before Lisanna started laughing at him which immediately made him regret every word he had just said

"That's all you wanted to tell me, how do you get scared by saying that?" she asked after getting over her laughter

"It's jus-"

"I'm kidding Gray, I know how scary it is which is why I was worried about telling you the same thing" she said

"You mean th-"

"Yes, I love you too Gray" she said softly while blushing

He couldn't describe what he was feeling at the moment: it was some sort of combination of joy, excitement, and some other things he didn't know he could feel. He wanted to say something but the words were stuck inside his throat, but this time he didn't care; instead Lisanna who was sitting across from him moved stood up before bending over and planting a kiss on his lips. He was surprised initially but closed his eyes and gave into the euphoria; the kiss only lasted a few seconds but those seconds were like hours to him. After it ended she smiled sweetly at him before sitting in the seat next to him and resting her head against his shoulder, he tensed up briefly before putting his arm around her to bring her closer. He smiled to himself before putting his head against hers, closing his eyes, and then waking up back in the Guild still clutching his drink.

"Just a dream huh?" he said softly as tears welled up in his eyes


End file.
